Dos Chinos: Shu & Q as the Cubans called us.
Dos Wheels: our motorcycle that takes us from Abu Dhabi, to South America, to Toronto, to Sweden, and to far and beyond.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Couchsurfing in AD

In the past three days we hosted three couchsurfers (okay Q is in the US, but he was involved in the process, well, most of it!): Johan (sp?) from Germany, Gaby and Ber from Shanghai (although Gaby is Argentina and Ber is Spanish). It is amazing how much I got to travel through them!

I picked up Johan as he was wandering the streets carrying a huge backpack at mid-day (40+ degree!) on my way to the dentist's office. For those of you who don't know already, 200 dhs (~50 euros or 65 dollars) hotel rooms do NOT exist in Abu Dhabi, try 200 dollars to start! Needless to say couchsurfing was the only option. It's mind-boggling to see an 18-year-old German speak Thai and haggle with notorious AD taxi drivers better than me. And Gaby and Ber, wow, they could turn just about some of the most horrible travel experiences into great bedtime stories - after getting their passports, credit and ATM cards stolen in Guilin, China, they were able to adapt by changing their travel plan - instead of travelling through Vietnam, they lived in Shanghai for seven months and loved it!

Actually come to think about it, these days I am constantly awed and inspired by the talented people that we have met in AD - and boy, are there many! It is tricky to be content with self when you hear stories of so many accomplished people (What Mick, sailing for six months alone when still in high school?). Oh, I also want to mention Ryan Rowe's website. Ryan's a fellow Canadian expat whose blog provides wonderful insights to life here in the sand pit. He also responded to my email inquiry a year later, but hey, better late than never, right? ;)